Boxscore

NORMAL, Ill. -- Points were at a premium Saturday night, and Evansville found enough down the stretch to win its second consecutive Missouri Valley Conference game, 59-54 at Illinois State.

Evansville (9-8, 3-4) is back on the road Tuesday at Southern Illinois before returning home next Sunday to play Bradley at 1:05 CST at Roberts Stadium.  Illinois State is 8-10 and 0-7.

The Aces trailed 46-45 when Clint Hopf put the Aces ahead to stay with two free throws with 5:26 to play.  Colt Ryan followed with a key three-pointer with 3:09 to go to put the Aces up 50-46, and the lead eventually expanded to seven at 54-47 with 1:02 to play on a Troy Taylor free throw.  Illinois State stayed alive with a three-pointer from Jon Ekey to make it a 54-50 game with 47 seconds to play, but free throws made the difference.  Evansville hit five of six in the final 27 seconds while Illinois State hit only one of five to go along with a three-pointer from Anthony Cousin.  His points made it 57-54 with six seconds remaining, but Denver Holmes' free throws with four seconds to play clinched the win.

"Give the players the credit," said coach Marty Simmons. "They maintained their poise.  There was no sense of panic.  A lot of guys stepped up and made plays tonight.  When we're playing our best, we're out in the passing lanes and knocking some  balls away.  I thought we did a pretty good job of that tonight."

Added Ryan, "Defense really made the difference for us.  We blocked out a lot better in the second half, too.  They were killing us in the first half on offensive rebounds."

Ryan scored 19 points to lead the Aces, and also had a game-high seven rebounds and led UE with three assists.  Kenneth Harris added 11 points.  Both teams shot 40 percent, but the Aces were able to get off 10 more shots, thanks to making only 10 turnovers while forcing the Redbirds into 22.